BRIEFLY

West Germany's economy continued to grow at the end of last year despite turbulence on stock and currency markets, the country's central bank said. But businessmen are reluctant to invest because they remain uncertain after the crash, even though stock prices have steadied and the dollar has recovered, the Bundesbank said in its monthly report. Recent estimates that gross national product, the main measure of a country's output, grew 1.7% in 1987 underestimate the strength of the economy, it said. Without fiercely cold winter weather that diminished industrial output at the start of 1987, the economy would have grown by 2%, a more realistic figure, the Bundesbank said.